Minutes of Proceedings

The meeting began at 10.37am in public session.

1. Apologies

Apologies are detailed above.

2. Minutes of meeting held on 6 October 2011

Agreed: The draft minutes of the meeting on 6 October were agreed.

3. Chairperson’s Business

There was no Chairperson’s Business.

4. Matters Arising

Steven Agnew joined the meeting at 10.39am

Members discussed a draft response to Patsy McGlone MLA, Chairman of the all-party working group on construction.

Agreed: Clerk to add information from today’s oral briefing from the Green New Deal into the draft letter.

Agreed: Chair and Deputy Chair to approve the final response.

Members discussed correspondence from a member of the public to the Chair regarding Invest NI.

Agreed: To forward the comments to Invest NI and inform Dr Goodall that the Committee has done so.

Members discussed a briefing note from the Department on the Boosting Business Initiative.

Agreed: To ask Invest NI to go into more detail on this initiative during its oral briefing in December.

 5. BIS Consultation on removing NI’s assisted area status

DETI officials joined the meeting at 10.41am.

Members received an oral briefing from Graeme Hutchinson, Head of DETI Economic Policy Division, Fiona McCausland, Head of DETI Business Support Unit and Stephen Moore, DETI EU Support Unit, DETI. Key issues discussed included the importance of NI retaining automatic 100% assisted area status attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), state aid versus regional aid and DETI’s interaction with the EU Commission for future state and regional aid.

Stephen Moutray joined the meeting at 10.50am.
Stephen Moutray left the meeting at 11.10am.

DETI officials left the meeting at 11.15am.

Agreed: To consider a research paper on the issue at next week’s meeting.

Agreed: Clerk to draft a response to the consultation for consideration at next week’s meeting.

6. Green New Deal

Officials joined the meeting at 11.16am.

Members received an oral briefing from John Woods, Project Leader, Paddy McIntyre, Chair of Green New Deal Steering Group and Nigel Smyth, Director, CBI NI. Key issues discussed included the proposals under the Green New Deal, energy-saving methods and funding for the Green New Deal.

Mike Nesbitt left the meeting at 11.50am.

Agreed: To receive further data on the standards of NI Housing Executive’s (NIHE) properties.

Mike Nesbitt re-joined the meeting at 12.02pm.

Agreed: To receive further information on section 23 of the Housing (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011.

Agreed: To forward the briefing papers from the Green New Deal and DSD to Patsy McGlone, Chairman of the all-party working group on construction.

Officials left the meeting at 12.26am.

David McIlveen left the meeting at 12.26am.

Members agreed to consider agenda items 8 and 9 next.

7. SR 2011/330 The Price Marking (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2011

The Committee considered the following subordinate legislation:

SR 2011/330 The Price Marking (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2011

Agreed: That the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment has considered SR 2011/330 The Price Marking (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2011 and has no objection to the Rule.

8. SR 2011/331 The Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011

The Committee considered the following subordinate legislation:

SR 2011/331 The Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011

Daithí McKay left the meeting at 12.30pm.

Agreed: That the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment has considered SR 2011/331 The Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011.

Members agreed to return to agenda item 7.

9. Scoping for New Energy Bill

DETI officials joined the meeting at 12.31pm.

Members received an oral briefing from Olivia Martin, Principal Sustainable Energy and Trevor McBriar, Deputy Principal Sustainable Energy, DETI. Key issues discussed included possibilities for a feed-in-tariff (FIT) for NI renewable energy, a possible energy supplier obligation and gas network expansion.

Daithí McKay returned to the meeting at 12.35pm

Mike Nesbitt declared an interest as an owner of a wind turbine, receiving ROCs.

Mike Nesbitt left the meeting at 12.46pm.

Daithí McKay left the meeting at 12.49pm.

DETI Officials left the meeting at 12.55pm.

10. Correspondence

 Members noted the following items of correspondence:

1. Letter from the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) to the Chair requesting a meeting.
   Agreed: Chair and the Deputy Chair to meet with the Irish League of Credit Unions (ICLU) and the Ulster Federation of Credit Unions (UFCU) and to report back to the Committee.
2. Letter from DFP regarding the recommendations from a 2008 report by the Committee for Employment and Learning.
   Agreed: To write to the Department of Employment and Learning on this issue.
3. Letter from the Minister to the Chair regarding the NI Children and Young People Participation 2011 Participation Awards.

11. Any other business

Members discussed a forthcoming visit to the Oireachtas for an informal meeting with the Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture on 10 November 2011.

Agreed: Clerk to review the most appropriate Oireachtas committee to contact in relation to economic matters and report back to the Committee.

Members discussed a request to meet with a delegation of Ambassadors from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Phillipines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam on 18 October 2011.

Agreed: To host a lunch for the delegation.

12. Date, time and place of next meeting

The next meeting of the Committee will take place on Thursday 20 October at 10.30am, Room 30, Parliament Buildings.

The Chair adjourned the meeting at 1.05pm.

Mr Alban Maginness
Chair, Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment
20 October 2011